Andromeda's Fall: A Novel of the Legion of the Damned

All her life, Lady Catherine Carletto (called Cat) has lived for nothing but the next party, the next lover, the next expensive toy. Until, in a bloodthirsty power grab, Imperial Princess Ophelia and her cadre of synth assassins murder her brother the emperor, and go on to purge the galaxy of his friends and supporters - including Cat’s family. The Carlettos are known to be staunch supporters of the Emperor and Carletto Industries has been in the forefront of his pet project - developing cybernetic technology for the masses.

Cartwright's Cavaliers: The Revelations Cycle, Book 1

Heir to one of the leading "Four Horsemen" mercenary companies, Jim Cartwright is having a bad year. Having failed his high school VOWS tests, he's just learned his mother bankrupted the family company before disappearing, robbing him of his Cavalier birthright. But the Horsemen of eras past were smart - they left a legacy of equipment Jim can use to complete the next contract and resurrect the company.

Eleanor C Mccrary says:"Don't give up on the book because of the monotone"

A.I. Destroyer: The A.I. Series, Book 1

It came from deep space. It sent the signal. Now our computers are killing us, helping the enemy drive us into extinction. But some of us refuse to die. We fight back. We learn. Jon Hawkins revives from cryogenic sleep in a drifting SLN battleship. The crew is dead and the main computer has been destroyed. Jon is a soldier, the start of the resistance, the one man with the will to beat the alien death machines that have terminated 1000 races. This is our hour as we face the ultimate evil, the galactic destroyer of life.

Monster Hunter International

Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a 14th story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer. It turns out that monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Some of them are evil, and some are just hungry. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business. And now Owen is their newest recruit.

Steel World: Undying Mercenaries, Book 1

In the 20th century Earth sent probes, transmissions, and welcoming messages to the stars. Unfortunately, someone noticed. The Galactics arrived with their battle fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined their vast Empire. Swearing allegiance to our distant alien overlords wasn't the only requirement for survival. We also had to have something of value to trade, something that neighboring planets would pay their hard-earned credits to buy. As most of the local worlds were too civilized to have a proper army, the only valuable service Earth could provide came in the form of soldiers....

Into the Guns: America Rising, Book 1

On May Day 2018, 60 meteors entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded around the globe with a force greater than a nuclear blast. Earthquakes and tsunamis followed. Then China attacked Europe, Asia, and the United States in the belief the disaster was an act of war. Washington, DC was a casualty of the meteor onslaught that decimated the nation's leadership and left the surviving elements of the armed forces to try to restore order as American society fell apart.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob): Bobiverse, Book 1

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets.

Blackhawk: Far Stars Legends Series, Book 1

Blackhawk: a wanderer, a man running from a dark and sinister past. A genetically-engineered warrior, a capable and accomplished killer, he is also a lost soul, a man who has fled to the deepest reaches of space seeking his true identity. The Far Stars: the farthest extent of human habitation in the galaxy, a sector of a hundred inhabited worlds, it is a dangerous expanse full of pirates, mercenaries, and cutthroats.

Starship Liberator: Galactic Liberation, Book 1

The Hundred Worlds have withstood invasion by the relentless Hok for decades. The human worlds are strong, but the Hok have the resources of a thousand planets behind them, and their fleets attack in endless waves. The long war has transformed the Hundred Worlds into heavily fortified star systems. Their economies are geared for military output, and they raise specialized soldiers to save our species. Assault Captain Derek Straker is one such man among many.

Columbus Day: Expeditionary Force, Book 1

The Ruhar hit us on Columbus Day. There we were, innocently drifting along the cosmos on our little blue marble, like the Native Americans in 1492. Over the horizon came ships of a technologically advanced, aggressive culture, and BAM! There went the good old days, when humans got killed only by each other. So, Columbus Day. It fits. When the morning sky twinkled again, this time with Kristang starships jumping in to hammer the Ruhar, we thought we were saved.

At Any Price & Rolling Hot: Hammer's Slammers Series

This two-story compiliation, read by Stefan Rudnicki, offers two stories from David Drake's popular Hammer's Slammers series. In At Any Price, Col. Alois Hammer's indomitable Slammers are called in to support human colonists against a native uprising in this novel-length adventure. But even though the natives' off-world weapons are no match for the Slammers, their ability to teleport gives them a frightening advantage! In Rolling Hot, the battle-crazed troop of recruits and vets, led by Captain Ranson, must cover 300 miles of hostile enemy territory.

Supercarrier: The Ixan Prophecies Trilogy, Book 1

Captain Keyes is loved by the public but hated by Command. He captains the UHS Providence, an aging supercarrier and the last human ship not dependent on dark tech - technology humanity has used to rule over the galaxy since barely defeating the Ixa in the First Galactic War.

Glory Boy

Caleb Mitchell gave up everything to protect his home. Shunned by friends and family for abandoning the pacifist beliefs of their religion, abandoned by the love of his life, he left his home world of Canaan to go to the Commonwealth Military Academy on Earth and train to fight in the looming war against the implacable alien threat of the Tahni Imperium. When a training mission with a crew of cadets winds up caught in the middle of one of the worst battles of the war, Cal and his fellow students are officially declared dead.

The Terran Privateer: The Duchy of Terra, Book 1

Earth is conquered. Sol is lost. One ship is tasked to free them. One Captain to save them all. When an alien armada destroys the United Earth Space Force and takes control of the human homeworld, newly reinstated Captain Annette Bond must take her experimental hyperspace cruiser Tornado into exile as Terra's only interstellar privateer. She has inferior technology, crude maps, and no concept of her enemy, but the seedy underbelly of galactic society welcomes her so long as she has prizes to sell and money to spend.

Deadeye: The Mutant Files, Book 1

In the year 2038, an act of bioengineered terrorism decimated humanity. Those who survived were either completely unaffected or developed horrible mutations. Across the globe, nations are now divided between areas populated by “norms” and lands run by "mutants" - Detective Cassandra Lee of Los Angeles's Special Investigative Section has built a fierce reputation taking down some of the city's most notorious criminals.

Vanguard: The Genesis Fleet, Book 1

Earth is no longer the center of the universe. After the invention of the faster-than-light jump drive, humanity is rapidly establishing new colonies. But the vast distances of space mean that the old order of protection and interstellar law offered by Earth has ceased to exist. When a nearby world attacks, the new colony of Glenlyon turns to Robert Geary, a young former junior fleet officer, and Mele Darcy, a onetime enlisted marine.

Earth Alone: Earthrise, Book 1

They came from deep space. They came to destroy us. Fifty years ago bloodthirsty aliens devastated the Earth. Most of humanity perished. We fell into darkness. But now we rise from the ashes. Now we fight back. Marco Emery was born into the war. After his mother is killed, he joins the Human Defense Force, Earth's ragtag army. Emery must survive basic training, become a soldier, and finally face the aliens in battle. Against the alien onslaught, Earth stands alone. But we will fight. We will rise. We will win.

The Empire's Corps

The Galactic Empire is dying and chaos and anarchy are breaking out everywhere. After a disastrous mission against terrorists on Earth itself, Captain Edward Stalker of the Terran Marine Corps makes the mistake of speaking truth to power, telling one of the most powerful men in the Empire a few home truths. As a result, Captain Stalker and his men are unceremoniously exiled to Avalon, a world right on the Rim of the Empire. It should have been an easy posting...

Cold Welcome: Vatta's Peace, Book 1

Summoned to the home planet of her family's business empire, space-fleet commander Kylara Vatta is told to expect a hero's welcome. But instead she is thrown into danger unlike any other she has faced and finds herself isolated, unable to communicate with the outside world, commanding a motley group of unfamiliar troops, and struggling day by day to survive in a deadly environment with sabotaged gear. Only her undeniable talent for command can give her ragtag band a fighting chance.

Outsystem: The Intrepid Saga, Book 1

Major Richards needs to get out of the Sol System. Demoted by the military and hung out to dry, the media labels her the Butcher of Toro. Despite her soiled record, Tanis still one of the best military counterinsurgency officers in the Terran Space Force. They need her to find the terrorists responsible for trying to destroy the GSS Intrepid, a massive interstellar colony ship in the final phases of construction at the Mars Outer Shipyards.

Wizard Defiant: Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles, Book 1

Wizard scouts are the elite, deep-recon forces of the Intergalactic Empire. They are a mix of technology and magic-like abilities. Richard has been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become one of these legendary soldiers. All he has to do is make it through the Wizard Scout Academy. But with a TAC officer who hates his guts, will he even be allowed to graduate. To make matters worse, the Empire has been attacked and soon finds itself in a major war.

Into the Storm: Destroyermen, Book 1

Pressed into service when World War II breaks out in the Pacific, the USS Walker---a Great-War vintage "four-stacker" destroyer---finds itself in full retreat from pursuit by Japanese battleships. Its captain, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Patrick Reddy, knows that he and his crew are in dire straits. In desperation, he heads Walker into a squall, hoping it will give them cover---and emerges somewhere else.

Behind the Lines: Ganog Wars, Book 1

Now, shattered and stuck behind enemy lines, the remnants of Alpha Company struggle to survive. Between them and escape stand three Planetstriders, thousand-meter monstrosities capable of destroying an orbiting capital ship. In order to survive, they must disable these titanic war machines, an impossible task made even more difficult by the discovery of a terrible secret - one that must reach fleet command, no matter the cost.

Team Yankee: A Novel of World War III

Team Yankee, the New York Times best-seller by Harold Coyle, presents a glimpse of what it would have been like for the soldiers who would have had to meet the relentless onslaught of Soviet and Warsaw Pact divisions. Using the geo-political and military scenarios described by General Sir John Hackett, former NORTHAG commander and author of World War Three; August 1985, Team Yankee follows the war as seen from the turret of Captain Sean Bannon's tank.

Publisher's Summary

In the future, the terminally ill can prolong life by surrendering their consciousness to a cybernetic life form that is then recruited into the notorious Legion of the Damned, an elite fighting unit charged with protecting humanity.

This book is the first of a Hall of Fame style series. William C. Dietz gives a text book lesson, in Legion of the Damned, on how to start off a sci-fi series that will define a career. Legion of the Damned not only successfully makes you buy into the main character and want more when the book concludes, but it also provides the depth of scope and color necessary to make the series outlast its main characters. It makes the story become about the world the author has created and the main characters your means of traversing that world and seeing the beauty of the imagination that is the author. His description of his characters and the world in which they live make you feel as if you are present, and his depictions of battle show a defined clarity in the process of laying out not only the combatants but also the desired direction of your interest. This diligent action allows the reader to buy into the story and thus creates a vested desire to see it to its conclusion. This is a book and a series that no serious sci-fi fan should be without.

The narration of this book by Donald Corren is superb. His characterization of the differant characters with his voice is done with a master's skill. This is not a simple narration, but as close to a reader's theater as you will find with a single narrator. His dedication to correctly dramatizing Dietz's work is truly admirable. It truly is the way this work should be presented. Donald Corren is to be commended for his accomplishment.

Reminded me of the Robert A. Heinlein books I loved as a kid. A blend of techno-nerd science fiction and a good ole fashion inner-species love story. I was happy to see the series has many more volumes.Narration was comfortable and a good fit. I have just downloaded the next two books in the series and I am looking forward with optimism and anticipation to the continuation of a very satisfying book.

Yep, if I wasn't stubborn, I probably wouldn't have gotten past the first hour of this audiobook. It starts out grudgingly slow, and extroadinary detailed. All of the details seemingly don't mean anything to you, and you realize that you are losing interest, before you can even decide if you like the story or not.

However, my head-strong mentality mixed with my natural stubborness told me to push ahead, keep on trucking, and see if this story is really a wonderful train wreck, or simply a train wreck gone bad.

I was presently suprised around hour 2 when the tide started to turn in the author's direction: the details started to come together, the characters started to make sense, and the story truly started to materialize into something with a ton of potential!

If I only knew what was in store for me at the time. If I had listened to the negative reviews, if I had succumbed to the boring and drawn out introduction, I too would have given up on this gem. It's one of those books you either love or hate. I hated it in the beginning, loved it by end. Well, that's not completely accurate, I loved it way before the end, I just didn't know it yet.

The author weaves a fantastic story that is inherently chaotic with a horde of characters (I stopped counting after 30), constantly switching storylines and scenes (usually across impossible distances), and all the while providing a fountain of information that, as a normally attentive listener, I found myself constantly losing track of some of the litte details that can define a character.

I couldn't imagine reading the print version of this book without driving off a cliff in the process. The style that the book is written in is difficult, but ultimately quite satisfying.

Yes, there is a ton of action and battle scenes of all types. Yes there are cheesy romances, even between cyborgs, but hey, it is science fiction, what do you really expect!

Be patient, listen closely, and feed your stubborness, and you too will appreciate this complicated sci-fi work of art.

The book started out gang busters, with the introduction of cyborgs, biobots and life in the Legion. About the middle of the book I lost interest. I must admit that I am not a Military Sci-Fi fan, so those that are, may love this book. It is hard for me to get into make believe wars, battles, and politics if the author has not made me care for the characters. Each chapter jumps quickly from one character to another, not giving enough time to build the character and make us root or not root for him/her/it.

Dietz shows a good imagination and reminds me of Kevin J. Anderson. I was also reminded a little of Neal Asher, although he is not quite as biologically crazy as Asher.

This was written in 1993, so if on sale I will listen to more of Dietz to see if his writing gets any better.

I quite enjoyed this book and am partway through Book 2 in the series right now. Yes there are some sci-fi tropes in the book, but they don't get in the way of a pretty darn good story. The geopolitical situation outlined in the book is complex enough to keep things moving along with many different angles to consider. There were also plenty of very interesting concepts (paranoid aliens? love 'em) that pop up throughout the book and I, like some other reviewers, enjoyed the backstory of the French Foreign Legion as well. While it is not Great Literature, if you are looking for an enjoyable military sci-fi book I don't think you can go wrong.

Mr. Dietz and Mr. Corren combine to present one of the truly entertaining SciFi thrillers of the year. This is, without a doubt, the best SciFi book I have had the good fortune to read(listen). I would recommend this book for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. If you were only going to read one SciFi book, you must read this one. I found myself unable to put it down, it was so entertaining.

First Dietz book I have read...not bad at all. Great military Sci-Fi...good story. The narriation was very good. It is very hard to detail a battle involving...say...the human race...but Dietz did well with his story, kept focus. Recomended.

This is a good Sci Fi book. I originally read it when it was first released to paperback. While others have criticized the writer for too little character development it is hard to devote pages and pages to character development when the character will be killed off. I do with they would have used the narrator from the Lost Fleet series though.

I just finished the 6th book (of the 8 written so far) and thought I'd go back and write a review of the first in the series. I have not read a great deal of military Sci-Fi, but even without regard to the genre this is a great read. The plot is clever and complex. The military and historical information on the French Foreign Legion is a lot of fun as well.

The oddest sensation as I read it, was that it seemed familiar. Although written years before the movie, if I were the author, I'd be a bit miffed by the movie Avatar -- since 80% of the movie came out of this book...and another 15% came out of subsequent books in the series. (It is hard to tell if it was copied, or whether these are inevitable themes -- but it made me feel sorry for this author.)

If you like series books, such as the Lost Fleet series, or just a good adventure in space story -- this is a wonderful book.